The Experience (1973) User Reviews

Matter of fact look at the life of a teenage boy

[pscamp01 · 6/10 · 31 December 2016]

The Experience is generally considered to be Abbas Kiarostami's first feature film even though it is only 53 minutes long. It is the story of a teenaged boy with a tendency towards bad decision making who works as an assistant in a photographer's studio. The film follows his daily life as he puts up with his unfriendly co-workers, spends nights in boring isolation and fantasizes about a pretty girl he met on the street. The film is very minimalistic. There is little plot, little dialogue and little background music. The effect is almost like a silent film with sound effects. The black and white cinematography is striking and the look at pre-revolutionary Tehran is fascinating, but the movie itself is not particularly interesting.